I am doing breakeven analysis re: taking Social Security at age 62. At age 65 I will begin collecting a pension that will cause my Social Security benefits to be affected by WEP (26 years substantial earnings). Will the years between age 62 - 65 be taxed by WEP, even though I am not collecting the pension yet? I thought that I read WEP begins whenever one starts taking Social Security, but the Social Security Admin. WEP Calculator does NOT reduce my benefits when I put retirement at age 62 and pension at age 65. It will only reduce benefits when both retirement and pension dates are set for age 62.

Thanks

Paul

Hi Paul,

First of all, if you read the answers in the Ask Larry topic on this page titled 'Break Even Analysis', you'll find that Larry does not recommend using break-even analysis to decide when a person should start drawing their Social Security benefits.

That said, the answer to your question is no. Generally speaking, WEP (Windfall Elimination Provision) does not apply until a person actually files for and becomes entitled to their non-covered pension (https://www.ssa.gov/pubs/EN-05-10045.pdf).

Our maximization software is fully programmed to handle cases involving WEP, so you may want to strongly consider using it to do your Social Security planning.

Best, Jerry